Duke’s Waikiki and Barefoot Bar (2015)

We’ve been to Duke’s before on our last visit to Waikiki so I won’t bore you with the whole story about how it’s named for Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku, who first brought surfing and Hawaii to prominence. It’s located in the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, which made it very convenient for us on our recent trip.
Like we mentioned on our last review of Duke’s, they’ve got a nice all-you-can-eat salad bar during dinner. As it turns out, they also have a AYCE buffet for breakfast. Duke’s Breakfast Buffet is $16.95 per person and gets you more than enough food than you could possibly handle.

Juice is included in the price and you’ve got to try the local POG (passionfruit, orange, and guava). I just wish they chilled the juice a bit as it was quite warm during our August visit.

Their breakfast buffet has something for everyone… by far my favourite item was the taro bread pudding (I drizzled it with some maple syrup and it was better than any French toast I’ve had). On my first go around, I picked up some fried rice, chicken and Portuguese sausage, eggs benedict, crispy bacon, and sweet pineapple slices. I normally don’t like pineapple too much but the ones we had in Hawaii were so fresh and sweet.

My 2nd go around was reserved for their omelette station. The Spanish omelette was so good and had tomatoes, onions, olives, jalepeños and cheese. They had quite a bit of fresh fruit available too including mandarin orange slices, papaya, peach slices, honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple, and watermelon… of course, I just had to grab another few slices of bacon.

I always feel like I need to have at least 3 servings at AYCE places so I went for one last go around (and another round of bacon). If you’re looking for more carbs, they also have pancakes, French toast, potatoes, and a wide assortment of fresh bread, buns, and cereal.

We wound up coming back here on another morning and I wound up loading up again on the fresh fruit, bacon, and taro bread pudding.

Duke’s also has The Barefoot Bar off to the side where you can literally just walk right up to from the beach and order pupus (appies).

We came here one afternoon when we were just looking for a small bite and decided on the Fresh Island Ahi Poke Duo ($16.95). On the left is the spicy ahi and on the right is the Hawaiian-style shoyu which is served over rice.

While it’s true you can get poke just about anywhere in Waikiki, I have to admit that this was very good tuna.

The fact that you get to enjoy a great view of the beach while you enjoy your pupus is just the kicker.

It can get busy here during the peak dining times so it’s best to come during the off-peak hours.